October 15, 2015
JACKSON, Miss. – The Tallahatchie Early Learning Alliance (TELA) is one of 11 pre-K learning collaboratives funded by Mississippi’s Early Learning Collaborative Act. Through the collaborative model, school districts, nonprofit groups, Head Start centers and private child care providers partner to deliver high-quality early childhood education to 4-year-olds in their communities.
This “Mississippi School Spotlight”video shows viewers how Mississippi’s Early Learning Collaboratives are providing high-quality early childhood education to 4-year-olds. The video features a TELA pre-K class and a kindergarten class at Charleston Elementary School, which is one of the elementary schools that enrolls TELA “graduates”.
Pre-K students at the West Tallahatchie Head Start Center, one of TELA’s pre-K sites.
In spring 2015, 59 percent of 4-year-olds in Mississippi’s Early Learning Collaboratives met or exceeded the performance level for kindergarten readiness. Pre-K students in TELA sites not only exceeded the state average readiness score for kindergarten, but their average score increased by 109 points over the course of the school year.
Mississippi Early Learning Collaboratives:
- Clarke County Early Learning Partnership
- Coahoma County Pre-K Collaborative
- Corinth-Alcorn-Prentiss Early Learning Collaborative
- DeSoto Early Learning Collaborative
- Lamar County Early Learning Collaborative
- McComb Community Collaborative for Early Learning Success
- Monroe Early Learning Collaborative
- Petal Early Learning Collaborative
- Picayune School District Early Learning Collaborative
- Sunflower County Early Learning Collaborative
- Tallahatchie Early Learning Alliance
To view all “Mississippi School Spotlight” videos, visit www.youtube.com/user/mdek12. Subscribe to this YouTube channel for all of the latest MDE videos.
To learn more about the Tallahatchie Learning Alliance (TELA), visit wearetela.org.
Media Contact:
Patrice Guilfoyle, APR
Director of Communications
601-359-3706
Jean Cook, APR
Communications Specialist
601-359-3519